Dawn of Frostfall
by Leonineus
Summary: The Dragonborn's family are set to have their first Frostfall together. But when a storm blows in and they are snowed in, what will they do? My usual Christmas oneshot. Glad tidings to all.


Dawn of Frostfall

All was quiet in Lakeview Manor. The owner of the house was away on business along with their housecarl, the bard was taking care of the weekly shopping run down into Falkreath, and the dogs were sleeping beside the fire in the main hall.

Aela the Huntress was in the kitchen, carefully cleaning and skinning a rabbit she had caught in the woods beside the house. Then she paused.

It was _too_ quiet.

"Blaise," she called, "Sofie, what are you two-"

CRASH.

Aela sighed, "And as usual…" Stepping away, she walked out of the kitchen and closed the door behind her, "Where are you two?!"

She finally found the two of them standing in the hall, both looking very guiltily at the fallen bear head that had been on the wall.

"You two…" sighed Aela, running a hand through her hair, "I swear, you're going to run your parents into retirement before anything else."

"We're sorry mama," the two chorused.

Aela noted that Sofie had dirt on her dress,and Blaise' face was grubby, "Were you two playing in the mud again?"

At their nods she sighed, "Blaise, Sofie, it's getting late into the year and the days are becoming colder by the day. I don't want you going outside so much anymore…"

"Okay mama,"

Aela smiled at them, "Okay. Now go wash up and change into some clean clothes."

The two nodded and walked past her into the main house.

Aela sighed, before bending and lifting the heavy bear head, reattaching it to the wall and absently noticing that the fall had knocked some of the fangs loose, "This could have really hurt either of them if it landed on them… honestly."

Stretching, she walked back into the main hall and paused by the fireplace, "And what's your excuse for not keeping them in order, eh?"

One of the two large dogs Aela's love had brought back from the Dawnguard, Sceolang, looked up at her and whined, thumping his tail twice against the floor before turning to look back at the other dog. Aela followed his gaze.

The second of their two war dogs, Bran, was lying flat on her side on a blanket, while a litter of some six pups suckled.

The two dogs had gone into heat while Aela and her partner had been away with the children visiting friends. They had returned to find Rayya in something of a panic and a heavily pregnant Bran.

The delivery had taken a while, and Aela had taken the children down to Falkreath to stay at the inn for a day to give her partner and the apothecary from Falkreath (Zaria of Grave Concoctions being only too happy to go up and assist when Aela showed up at the door to make the request and riding back with Rayya) time to tend to Bran.

It had however been worth it, to see their daughter and son's eyes light up in unison on seeing the litter of tiny, squeaking pups huddled beside their mother's side, safely ensconced in a blanket.

Aela was jerked from her thoughts as one of the pups disengaged from his mother, stumbled haphazardly across the blanket and sniffed her bare foot before yipping up at her. Aela smiled, crouching down to stroke him before turning him around and gently shunting him back towards his mother. She then scratched Bran's ears lightly before rising back to her feet.

It was at that moment that she heard the front door behind her open, and she turned.

Rayya stepped through the door, shaking snow from the head wrap she always wore. She nodded to Aela as she shrugged off her cloak and hung it up beside the door.

Aela paid the housecarl a nod in return, still watching the door.

Then Llewellyn the Nightingale, the house's resident bard, entered and Aela's lips thinned as he also nodded to his employer's wife before saying something to the housecarl. She nodded halfway through unlacing her muddy boots and began relacing them, redonning her cloak and following him outside to start unloading the cart of supplies.

Then a third figure stepped past, taller than both of them.

Aela turned fully to face the door, smiling as she walked over to lean against the doorframe.

The figure stood facing out, saying something to those outside, then slowly began removing the thick bearskin cloak they wore, revealing thick furs and a scarf wrapped completely around their head, hanging it on the same hook Rayya had used before reaching up to pull away the scarf.

Long blonde hair fell free, and Aela's smile widened as she beheld her love.

The blonde turned and smiled, blue eyes shining as the woman regarded her lover affectionately. Tall and shapely like most Nord women, but with a particular shape and set to her face which spoke of some Breton blood, she stood a good six foot four and towered a little over Aela's own fair six feet.

This was Thorvyska Stormblade, Dragonborn, hero of the Civil War, Harbinger of the Companions, highly placed in the Dawnguard and Thane of Windhelm, Falkreath and Whiterun.

"Aela," she said softly, moving over to the other woman and kissing her, "How are things?"

"Alright," said Aela, "The kids have been troublesome occasionally, but nothing I couldn't handle. I noticed you were covered in snow. How far ahead of it were you?"

"Oh," said Thorvyska, as she ventured further into the hall and crouched by the fire to rub the dogs' ears and warm her hands, "The blizzards were nipping at our heels all the way down from Winterhold. We stopped at Whiterun so I could check all was well at Breezehome, but we couldn't stop long if we wanted to reach home before nightfall."

"How long do you think we have?"

"At most, two days. We should start preparing for the snow to set in. Even as far south as we are, I was hearing whispers that this looks to be a very harsh winter. We ran into Llewellyn on the way back and he was saying there was talk of several feet of snow in Falkreath."

"Oh joy," said Aela, "So we're going to be snowed in over Frostfall? The children will be devastated."

Thorvyska sighed, "Yes, I know…"

"We promised to take them to the festival in Solitude."

"I know," said Thorvyska, "But we can't. If we try, we'll get caught on the roads. I won't risk those two freezing to death on the roads, Aela. I'd rather die than let that happen."

"I know, Vys, I'm the same way…"

Thorvyska sighed, "Aela, let's just go start prepping, okay? Let's open up the stores and start hanging furs."

Aela nodded, and as they sidestepped Rayya and Llewellyn passing carrying a barrel of salted fish, the two headed outside.

A few weeks after they first moved in, Thorvyska had built a shed outside the building. Along with an extension to the basement with a thick door for the storage of food and drink barrels and the like, the shed outside was for the storage of various hides, blankets and such they used for insulation during the colder months.

That was what they now opened, carrying rolled up bear hides and wolf skins into the house, hooking wolf skins up over the windows and hanging bear hides across doorways. More hides and blankets were piled on all the beds and into chairs around the house, Thorvyska stoked up the fireplace and moved a large amount of firewood into the storage cellar.

Blaise and Sofie helped where they could, at least until the snow actually set in, and did it ever set in.

The family woke one morning to find snow actually covering the windows, and when Rayya tried opening the front door she was almost buried by the snow piled up against it.

Blaise and Sofie were very excited to go out and play, and against her better judgement Thorvyska did lever open one of the doors leading on the balcony on top of the family's bedrooms so the children could stretch their legs.

But it was missing something. Both Blaise and Sofie had been very disappointed that they wouldn't be attending the Frostfall festival. Thorvyska had been apologetic, adamant that she would not risk their health by attempting the roads in the snow. They would simply have to get by.

And so they were settling in for a cold Frostfall together when Thorvyska, putting up a few small decorative trinkets in the hall one morning, heard a scuffing sound outside.

Thinking it to be a wolf, Thorvyska immediately hurried into the next room for her sword.

Returning to the hallway, she stood near the door, hand on the latch, waiting for the oppportune moment to strike.

The scuffing came and went, and finally she heard a loud THUNK against the door, and sprang into action.

Ripping the door back, Thorvyska swung her sword…

...and felt it stop with a hearty THWACK.

"Hey!" said a woman's voice, "Some Frostfall greeting, Vys!"

Thorvyska blinked.

Her sword had been halted by the haft of a long shovel, held by a tall and attractive Altmer with seemingly-luminous golden eyes and black hair. Behind her, a young Nord woman with the same luminous eyes and dark hair watched in amusement, along with two young girls who looked like twins.

"Semyl!" said Thorvyska, withdrawing her sword and dropping it to the floor as she embraced her Altmer friend.

"Urgh," groaned Semyl. Even with her vampire's strength, her best friend's hugs were nothing to be sniffed at.

"And hello to you too, Serana!" Thorvyska said eagerly, "Come in, come in, out of the cold!"

The two women gratefully hurried inside, Serana pulling the twins wrapped up in thick cloaks behind her as Semyl leaned the shovel against the wall.

"And greetings to you two, Britte, Sissel," beamed Thorvyska, giving each a cheerful pat on the head, "Blaise and Sofie are through there if you want to go say hello."

The twins nodded happily, Serana taking their cloaks as they hurried in to greet the other two.

"Were you travelling long?" Thorvyska said, as she took Semyl's cloak and hung it up.

"A little bit. We actually made it to Whiterun just before the blizzard set in, and waited overnight until we could set out again. Ran into Lydia in the market and she was kind enough to let us stay the night, I hope you don't mind."

"Certainly not!" said Thorvyska, "It's good to know Breezehome has a use again."

"Thank you," said Semyl, before her two girls suddenly tore back through the bearskin covering the doorway to the main hall, "Hello, what's this?"

"Puppies!" squealed the two girls, grabbing their mothers' arms and trying to drag them back the way they'd come, "Come see the puppies, mama!"

"Ah yes," laughed Thorvyska, "Bran and Sceolang had puppies a few months ago. They're a voracious lot, I'll tell you. I think if I tossed a chicken leg to them it'd be like a swarm of slaughterfish at work."

Semyl chuckled as she disappeared through the bearskin, quickly followed by Serana. Thorvyska ducked through last.

The insulation provided by the bearskins was immediately apparent; the temperature rose considerably as they entered the vicinity of the roaring fire.

"Are we expecting anyone else?" Thorvyska finally asked, as she watched Semyl's two girls cooing over Bran and her litter.

"I should hope so," said Semyl.

"Yes," said a voice from above, "As should I,"

"Aspharr!" Semyl said delightedly.

The young Dunmer beamed, dressed from head to foot in her usual Thieves' Guild armour and sitting on the railing. Next to her, Falawyl smiled, inclining her head courteously to the Dragonborn and Semyl, her large ears twitching occasionally.

"Welcome to my home you two," said Thorvyska, already knowing they must have come through the upstairs door she had left unlocked, "Want a drink?"

As the two nodded she continued, "Falawyl, it's very warm in here will you be okay? And do you want to take some food out for Aethir?"

The snow elf inclined her head graciously, "It is alright. I will step outside if I feel too warm. And please, if you can spare any?"

"Of course," said Thorvyska, "Aela, would you mind going down to the cellar and getting some of the salted fish?"

Aela nodded and headed into the back room.

"Anyway," said Aspharr, climbing over the railing and dropping lightly beside Thorvyska, "I come bearing gifts. And no," she prodded Semyl's arm, "They aren't stolen."

There was another knock at the door as Semyl went to retort, and Thorvyska went to answer it. She soon returned with three young Khajit in tow.

"Ah," said Semyl as she walked over, "J'kari, you made it. And J'zaka and J'zhirr as well."

The eldest of the triplets and the only girl, J'kari nodded happily, her tail lashing back and forth.

"We brought a gift," she nodded to her brothers, who headed back outside and soon returned straining under the weight of an elk.

"Well," chuckled Thorvyska, "That'll take a bit of work to prepare. Let's get it down to the cellar. I widened the hatch so we could take barrels down there."

She hefted some of the elk's weight, gaining grateful looks from the two young Khajit as they carried it through to the back and began feeding it down the cellar hatch.

"It's slipping! It's slipping!"

"Whoa!"

"By Hircine, what the-"

"Oh, sorry Aela!"

"Where did this come from? And why did you drop it on me!"

"We lost our grip," Thorvyska's voice was clearly shaking with the effort not to laugh.

Serana chuckled, "It appears that your salted fish may be delayed, Falawyl,"

Falawyl gave a soft giggle, "It is alright."

Some scuffling came back, and they heard Thorvyska give voice to a few inventive phrases in Dragon that weren't technically Shouts but probably couldn't be translated with the children in the room, and finally Aela emerged into the room looking extremely ruffled and handed Falawyl a large bowl of salted fish.

"May I?" Falawyl said, gesturing to the children.

"Well it will keep them out of our hair for a while," said Aela, "Go ahead."

"Children," said Falawyl, drawing the attention of the four children still clustered around Bran, "Would you like to see a snowy sabre cat?"

The children immediately jumped up and followed Falawyl upstairs and outside, their excited cries fading as the door closed behind them.

"No Kelthie?" said Aela, suddenly.

"No," said Semyl, "She has her own mother. I thought it wasn't fair to drag her down here."

"And our inventor friend in Markarth?"

"That crotchety old man? I'd be surprised if he even thinks about celebrating Frostfall. Last I heard he was trying to develop something he referred to as "central heating"."

"Well," said Thorvyska fairly as she re-entered the room, "We can only hope that he's letting Conor have Frostfall off. The poor boy needs a break."

Semyl chuckled, "I tried convincing Azog to join us. He wouldn't leave his forge."

"What about Ghada and Rais?"

"I asked. They said they wanted to spend Frostfall together."

"Well, I think we've got enough people here anyway."

"How's the elk coming?" J'kari interjected.

Thorvyska started, "I forgot. Came up to get one of the bigger spits out of the kitchen storage. We're using the forge as a roasting pit." She hurried into the kitchen and they heard her rummaging in the cupboard, soon returning with a spit frame and hurrying into the back with it.

There was a pause.

"Aela?" said Serana.

"Yes?" the Companion responded.

"It's too quiet…"

They all looked up.

"Oh you little-" Aela had time to say, but that was it before Falawyl and the four kids now arrayed on the upper landing opened fire with _dozens _of snowballs.

When the onslaught finally concluded, three women poked their heads out from under the table to the sound of laughter from above. Semyl gave Aspharr, who had been standing right beneath the balcony on which the four children and one snow elf stood, a baleful look and thus out of their firing line, "And you didn't think to warn us?"

"I'm a thief," Aspharr said simply, "You have to be observant. You three were just so intent on your conversation that you didn't pay attention."

She took a step forwards.

That was a mistake as it turned out, as Blaise and Sofie promptly emptied a bucket full of snowballs onto her head from above.

"Didn't pay attention to that, did you?" said Aela with a grin. She straightened up and brushed some snow off her shoulders, "I'll go find some clothes for us all."

-DoF-

The elk, as it turned out, took most of the rest of the day to cook. Thorvyska left it in the capable hands of J'zaka and J'zhirr while she recruited Aela to help her prepare side dishes and such.

Finally, everything was ready. J'zaka and J'zhirr worked on carving the elk and began bringing it up and stacking great slabs of elk meat onto trays. The two did remember to serve up especially rare servings for the two vampires and two werewolves in their midst as well, while Aela and Thorvyska laid on plate after plate of assorted vegetables seasoned with herbs and such.

Aspharr set out bottles of mead they had left by the fire to head up, with cups of milk for the children, while Falawyl fetched extra chairs and J'kari stoked up the fire.

As they all sat around the table, Thorvyska picked up her goblet of warm mead and smiled, "A toast, to friendship and family."

The others echoed her, drinking from their own goblets and cups, and then tucked in.

The elk was delicious. Thick, juicy and smoky with an aftertaste that just seemed to linger on the tongue.

"Good hunt, you three," complemented Thorvyska as she chewed thoughtfully on a carrot.

"Agreed," Serana nodded.

J'kari smiled and inclined her head, "You honour us, Vys."

There was a pause, then the sound of the wind outside and a loud growl from Aethir both rattled the windows.

"Oh dear," sighed Falawyl, "Lady Thorvyska, I hate to impose, but-"

"Think nothing of it," said Thorvyska before she could finish, "Falawyl, if you want to let Aethir sleep inside, you don't need to ask. Just let me move the dogs into the bedroom so that they don't stumble upon him, okay?"

Falawyl gave a quick dip of her head, getting up and lightly running up the stairs to bring the large sabre cat around the side.

Thorvyska stood from her chair and walked over to the two dogs, murmuring softly to them. Bran huffed slightly, but rose to her feet and watched as her mistress gathered up her pups in the blanket and carefully carried them into the bedroom, where she positioned the blanket on the floor at the foot of the bed and scratched Bran affectionately behind the ears as the mother dog laid back down beside her pups.

Smiling, she returned to the others.

-DoF-

In the end, they all found places to rest.

Semyl and Serana were quite surprised to discover something that Thorvyska had personally designed for them; a false wall leading off the cellar in the forge room led to a small, dimly lit area not unlike a crypt and containing a coffin wide enough for two, thoughtfully furnished with its own pillows and blankets.

Sissel and Britte, after being shown how to activate the false wall if they wanted access to their mothers' room in the middle of the night (and both being previously knowledgeable of their mothers' "condition"), took the double bed on the top floor which often stood empty but for when visitors were present.

Rayya and Llewellyn of course had their own beds, so they were both fine.

Aspharr chose to sleep next to the still warm fireplace on a bedroll, the young Dunmeri maiden content in her place.

The three Khajit siblings chose the kitchen area, content to sleep amongst the smells that reminded them of their own home in Heljarchen Hall.

Falawyl meanwhile accepted a single blanket from Thorvyska, and slept curled up against the warm belly of Aethir in the hall.

Thorvyska, as was her wont, tucked in Blaise and Sofie in their own beds and kissed them goodnight, telling them a brief story of her adventures before retiring to her own bed.

Slipping under the blankets and furs piled onto the bed, she kissed her wife goodnight.

"Sleep well, Aela."

"And you, Vys."

Thorvyska laid back on the bed, Aela resting her head on her shoulder, gazing at the ceiling as the wind continued to blow and snow continued to pelt against the sturdy walls of her home, the home she had so lovingly crafted with her own two hands for her family.

Of commingled Stormcloak and Forsworn blood she may be, honed into the woman she had become in an Orsimer stronghold she may have been, but this… the _Dovahkiin_ would not trade this for anything.

"Happy Frostfall, everybody," she murmured, and drifted off to sleep.

**A/N: So this took me several days to write. I originally started off on a Harry Potter oneshot, but about a thousand and half words in I realised I wasn't really "feeling" the fic and it was rapidly turning into a rehash of my old oneshot **_**Realisations**_**, so I decided to write something different instead.**

**Thorvyska and her friends, including those who did not attend her little unscheduled gathering, have their own story I am writing. It will take a lot of work, but I hope at some point I will be able to post it.**

**On that note, after the sudden expiry of **_**Lightning among the Stars **_**due to once again the Muses deciding they have better things to do, I have resolved to take a leaf from the book of my friend stargatesg1fan1 and not post fics unless they are finished. This means you may see the occasional oneshot from me, but longer fics will not appear until they are complete, though occasionally I may add something to my **_**Previews **_**collection to give you an idea of what I may be working on.**

**It is now 0214 in the morning of 25th December as I write this message, and I must fly to sleep.**

**Have a lovely Christmas everybody.**

**Your loyal author,**

**Leonineus**


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